Norden: The Norton of Bombsights

Many might be wondering what the title of this article could mean. After all, many computers today use Norton as their Internet security provider, and many users swear by it. However, many more people say that Norton is ineffectual and causes more problems than it fixes. This remarkably parallels the remarks made of the Norden bomb sight, lauded by the Allies as the tool that would single-handedly win the war. As one pilot remarked, the Norden was said to be able to land a bomb in a pickle barrel at 20,000 feet. The pilot also said they were lucky to land a bomb in France.

The Norden bombsight was developed by Dutch immigrant Carl Norden. It was originally intended for the US Navy as a guide for bombers to destroy enemy shipping at sea. This was due to the fact that while dive bombers were effective against shipping, they could only achieve good ranges with the assistance of an aircraft carrier. With the Norden, the theory was for the bombers to stay at high altitude and still land their bombs within a 100 foot circle of the intended target. All of these theories would soon be put to the test.

The Royal Air Force were the first to use the Norden, in B-17s provided to Britain under Lend-Lease. One thing to keep in mind was the Norden was developed while America was still holding a non-interference policy, and this showed when the bomb sight went into combat. The RAF were unable to get the sights to work effectively, eventually assigning the planes to other duties. The US Army Air Corps soon got into the game, using the B-17s of the Eighth Air Force to bomb Axis targets. However, their results were little better. The USAAC was able to calculate the effectiveness of the bomb sight with reconnaissance flights after missions. The criteria for a good hit was a bomb landing within 1000 feet of the target. Most of the time the accuracies of each target was under 50%. Almost 90% of all the bombs in any given mission landed outside of this 1000 foot area. While this did improve later in the war, it was clear the Norden was just an ordinary bomb sight, and would not win the war on its own.

However, the Norden did prove to be a useful tool. It was soon realized that the bomb sight was fine, it was the manner in which it was used that was flawed. For example, the Norden's stabilizers were intended for use in areas and altitudes with minimal wind shear, and the bombers over Japan were flying at over 30,000 feet, where the Pacific air streams wreaked havoc on the accuracy of the sight.

Also, while the mechanical complexity of the sight made it a potent tool, some military officials mistook complexity for infallibility and put the Norden on all bombers. This prevented the formation from achieving any group accuracy because all the sights were slightly different and therefore slightly off from one another. This was fixed, however, when the idea came to install a Norden on the lead plane of a formation only, and that plane would determine where the other planes would release their payloads. This increased accuracy significantly.

The Enola Gay in Washington D.C, which contains the original Norden from the bombing of Hiroshima.

Since the Norden was considered the key to Allied victory, its development was kept a closely guarded secret, almost on the same level as the Manhattan Project. However, this security was breached by a German spy, who sent plans for the sight to Germany, and in turn the Luftwaffe introduced the Lotfe 7 bomb sight, a near identical copy of the Norden.

In the end, the Norden was remembered by the victors as one of the crucial pieces of technology that won the war over the Axis, putting it among the ranks of radar, sonar, and the atom bomb. While it was a useful tool for precision bombing, it was not the technology alone that won the air war, but the technology in conjunction with changes in technique and strategy that ultimately proved to be the key to Germany's levelling. Until next time, take care, and thank you.